Something Missing
by RayneSummer
Summary: Aside from having done a lot of growing up and into the hunter he was now, Sonny noticed something very important had changed... Dean wasn't wearing that amulet any more. Tag to 9.07 Bad Boys.
1. Chapter 1

**Theme: **Supernatural, Dean Winchester, extra character - Sonny, Family, Samulet

**Disclaimer:** Still not mine, sigh

**Tags: **to 9.07 Bad Boys

**Words: **1056

**Summary: **Aside from having done a lot of growing up, Sonny noticed something important had changed... Dean wasn't wearing that amulet any more.

* * *

"So, Dean, gotta ask," Sonny began as he and Dean looked through the files on Timmy in the centre office.

Sam had gone to take another glance around the shed where the first victim had died, and Dean was slightly preoccupied thinking about that, but Sam was a fully trained hunter and was quite hard to take down, so Dean tried not to worry too much. Tried.

Consequently, he wasn't exactly concentrating. Therefore Sonny's comment surprised him a little.

"Uh, yeah?" Dean replied, wondering what he was going to be asked now.

Sonny straightened up and looked the hunter in the eye. "That amulet, necklace thing, that you always wore... where is it?" he asked gently.

Realising his throat was currently too tight to reply, Dean swallowed, flicking his eyes away from Sonny's intense gaze.

"You said it was very special, and that you would never lose it," Sonny added quietly. "I know you've been through a lot since then, but I was just wondering. Unless you don't want to tell me, of course."

Taking a deep breath, Dean nodded. In response to what, he didn't know, but Sonny took it as he didn't want to talk about it.

Nodding back in acceptance of privacy, the farm owner bent down again, going back to looking for any other information on Timmy.

"I never lost it," Dean said quietly. Sonny stilled and slowly straightened up again, watching the boy think.

Dean sighed, hating himself all over again for that night, and tried to think of how to phrase it in such a way that he wouldn't sound like a complete dick.

Well, there was no way around that. Even if Sonny didn't think that, Dean did of himself, and that was what mattered.

Sighing again, Dean looked up to talk to his early father figure eye to eye.

"Sam gave it to me; it was meant to be for dad. But he gave it to me at Christmas, when we were still kids. It was... the morning after he found out monsters were real." Dean gave a humorless chuckle. "Don't know what we woulda done if he hadn't done that sooner or later. Smart kid."

Sonny nodded in agreement. Sam did come across as a very intelligent man, both in general and in his area of work.

"You say you didn't lose it...?" Sonny prompted, not wanted to rush the boy, but feeling that he'd rather say this without his brother present. Clearly it hurt him bad, whatever had happened. Perhaps the amulet had been taken from him.

Dean took a breath and shrugged. "Well, no. Sam kept it when I was, uh, away," his lip twitched as he substituted _hell_ for _being away _for the sake of this conversation. No need to overwhelm the civilian.

"And... never gave it back?" Sonny suggested.

Shaking his head immediately, Dean replied, "Yeah, he gave it me back when I got back, as soon as I got back. It was just right."

Sonny frowned slightly. "So, when did it go missing in action?"

Attempting an empty smile, the hunter looked one of the best father figures he had ever had in the eye.

"I dropped it in the trash the day I lost faith in Sam, in God, and all of the above," he stated, and looked away, tears in his eyes.

Realising that Dean realised a thousand times over how goddamn stupid he had been to throw the special amulet away, Sonny exhaled and looked away too.

"And now, every single freaking day from then, I regret that moment." Dean blinked, pretending that there wasn't tears in his eyes.

Sonny nodded, still looking away, allowing his boy the illusion of privacy.

"Because of course I believe in Sammy. I always do, whatever happens. But since I threw that... it... away, it's like something's broken between us. Sam doesn't think I believe in him, or trust him, sometimes any more. I see it in his eyes. A thousand apologies." Dean sniffed and subtly rubbed one eye. "I should be the one apologising, and I would, if I thought it would change anything," he mumbled, looking down.

Feeling tears of his own threaten to cloud his vision, Sonny moved around the desk to Dean, to stand in front of the boy who had come so far and was still fighting simply for his little brother.

"Dean. I don't know about you and Sam's relationship at the moment, or, hell, since your childhood, but I can promise you this: do you know what I can see in Sam's eyes every time he looks at you?" Sonny watched Dean shrug and not look up, refusing to admit weakness. "All I see is complete and utter faith in his big brother," Sonny stated.

The older Winchester looked up on impulse, searching Sonny's face for a trace of a lie. Finding none - and he was good at looking for lies in people - he nodded, sniffed, and looked down again.

Sonny looked down at his once farm boy that had come so far with nothing but truth in his eyes, and smiled slightly, for whatever the Winchesters were going through, they would get through it, together.

The two stood like that for a minute, just lost in their own thoughts.

And outside the room, the younger brother stood, having arrived at the start of their conversation. Sam smiled too, tears in his eyes. Sonny spoke nothing but the truth, as he had throughout young Dean's respite at the farm, and as he had never stopped doing since.

* * *

**This didn't really turn out as thought, but then again not much does. I hope it was okay though. Maybe a little too sappy, buut other people showing Sam and Dean how much they mean to each other is an amazing theme that loves to be explored. Thank you for reading and please leave a review if you have time. -Rayne**


	2. Chapter 2

**Sam's POV Chapter 2 That I Didn't Know Was Coming ~ Courtesy of 'Meggin Lane' with her idea of a small part of Sam's POV, and then I decided I wanted to do another short chapter entitling the whole of Sam's point of view, from about halfway through Sonny and Dean's conversation. Thank you so much for the idea! She also wrote a small piece for it, and that will be in stars (**) to credit her. All her words, not edited at all. Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

*Sam had just come in from his search of the barn, he was about to call out to Dean what he'd found but as the outer door snicked quietly behind him he heard his brother's voice coming from Sonny's office and it sounded...troubled. Sam knew every tone and nuance Dean's voice could make and all of the meanings behind those sounds. Dean was a man of few words and Sam had learned long ago that it wasn't so much what Dean said but the way he said it that conveyed the true meaning. And right now the sound Dean was making was his 'about to break down' voice. The younger Winchester's instincts went on full alert and he crept silently up to the slightly open door and listened for anything that might be danger happening to Dean but instead he heard...*

"So when did it go missing in action?" Sonny asked with a frown in his voice.

Sam tried to look into the small crack that the door was still open, and saw Dean try to smile, but it was empty and lost and held no hint of joy from what he was about to say.

"I dropped it in the trash the day I lost faith in Sam, in God, and all of the above," Dean stated, and immediately looked away from Sonny and the door, so Sam couldn't see his face.

Blinking at unexpected wetness in his eyes, Sam tried to focus on what Dean carried on to say, attempting not to feel a distinct crushing pain in his chest at his brothers words - _the day I lost faith in Sam_.

He realised what they were talking about, too. The Samulet. That God-worthy special amulet that a young Sam had given to Dean one Christmas morning when their father hadn't bothered to turn up. And how years later, Dean disposed of it in the way anyone would drop a dirty tissue in the bin. Like it was too horrible to keep. Unclean. Like Sam.

"And now, every single freaking day from then, I regret that moment," the elder Winchester continued, sounding about to lose it and break down. Sam frowned, blinking to try and focus his vision. Dean regretted that? Throwing away the amulet? He still thought about it every day? It was more than Sam could bear to hope for.

"Because of course I believe in Sammy. I always do, whatever happens. But since I threw that... it... away, it's like something's broken between us. Sam doesn't think I believe in him, or trust him, sometimes, any more. I see it in his eyes. A thousand apologies." Sam's mouth was open in shock at Dean's words as he heard his brother subtly sniff. "I should be the one apologising, and I would, if I thought it would change anything," Dean finished, dropping his head as though exhausted.

It was silent in the room for a minute, and then Sam caught Sonny moving out of the corner of his vision, and watched. He saw the farm owner, and apparently one of Dean's best father figures from his past, move from the desk and over to the older Winchester.

"Dean," Sonny started, but the hunter didn't even look up, seeming unable to look at someone he so admired shamefully in the eye. Sonny continued and Sam listened quietly, "I don't know about you and Sam's relationship at the moment, or, hell, since your childhood, but I can promise you this: do you know what I can see in Sam's eyes every time he looks at you?"

From outside the door, Sam saw Dean shrug and still not look up, refusing to admit to weakness or comfort. Waiting for Sonny to complete his sentence, Sam wondered what the man did see when he looked at his brother.

"All I see is complete and utter faith in his big brother."

Tears threatened at Sam's eyes as he heard the truth in the old, experienced, man's voice. He saw Dean even look up for a trace of a lie, but found none, because he knew it was true too. He dropped his head again just as Sam did at the same time, outside the room, having heard and would forever keep in his heart the truthful words of a man who really barely knew them now, but could sum up that way Sam saw his big brother.

Sonny and Dean just stood for a minute, finally taking a break from their work or worries at the moment. Sonny smiled slightly as he watched Dean, and that made Sam smile a little through his tearful expression.

He just stood outside the room for a moment, too, just taking in how much Dean meant to him, because when someone else observes the Winchesters, it always means so much more to hear how much they were to each other. It was amazing.

_"My big brother... there's nothing I wouldn't do for you." _

Sam smiled. After all these years, those words he spoke when he first found out Dean was actually going to hell for him still stood, with as much truth as was in Sonny's voice. Forever.


End file.
